The IT Laboratory and Its Professionals

The paper describes the automation of a big Romanian library, Lucian Blaga Central University Library of Cluj-Napoca (CUL), revealing the initial and later difficulties, emphasising the problems related to the IT specialists. It presents the members of the IT Laboratory starting with the date when it was officially founded – September the 1st, 1992 – also trying to point out the responsibilities over the years. The first activities of the IT specialists are briefly presented, as well as the important achievements throughout the 16 years since the IT Laboratory setting up. Computer science courses for librarians held by the IT personnel, on which great emphasis was laid for several years, constituted a premier case in the automation process of Romanian libraries. A paragraph is dedicated to national and international projects and programmes, which by means of personnel mobility had a special role in the change of mentalities. The endowment of IT and communication equipment has become one of the most advanced in comparison with other Romanian libraries; the IT specialists contributed to this achievement by a wide range of activities, starting with a thorough search for financial resources to market analysis, acquisition, implementation and maintenance. The automation of the library led to modern information and documentation tools, such as: the Aleph online catalogue, the library’s own bibliographic databases (distributed on CDs and accessible on the Internet), CDs, subscriptions to databases and electronic reviews, and the library’s homepage – http://www.bcucluj.ro. In addition to this, the creation of a digital library has begun in 2008. The main problems related to IT specialists emphasises the complexity of their work, the continuous training, user interaction (librarians and readers), salaries as a first form of acknowledgement, and the need of IT specialists in Romanian libraries.

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